Asus questions

We will be buying our first laptop soon. We have desktops to do all the heavy duty work. The laptop will be for travel-work, and for the kids to watch dvds on road trips.
I am leaning toward Asus, as I have read they are a good solid machine, and I like that I can see them at a store and not just order it on-line sight unseen.
I want the wide 15.4 lcd, and beyond that it will be used for office (word, spreadsheets) email and internet browsing.
I am comparing the Z81D(Athlon) (I like the speakers for movie watching)
http://usa.asus.com/products/notebook/z8series/Z8100d/z8100d_overview.htm
or the
Z81L (Pentium)
http://usa.asus.com/products/notebook/z8series/Z8100L/z8100l_overview.htm
and the M6BNe
http://usa.asus.com/products/notebook/m6series/m6000n/m6000n_overview.htm
The cost difference is something we can handle. Anyone know if one is "better" than another for what we want - better made?
Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

For battery life and weight, the M6 is going to be a better system to go with..... The Athlon and P4 systems are going to be cheaper though, because of cheaper cpu costs... Looks wise, the M6 would top both of the others. However, from what you're doing, I don't think you need dedicated video, If dvds are going to be the hardest thing you're going to throw at the system, intels integrated solution is way more than enough for you.

Do you have a price range, weight range, battery life range that you'd like to fit within?

J

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Thank you for the response PROPortable.
Quote "Do you have a price range, weight range, battery life range that you'd like to fit within?"

No not really. Possibly the lesser weight of the M6 (2 pounds less) might be a good thing.
Battery life - it can be plugged in most of the time, even in the car.
Weight - my husband is good and strong(!) - or it will be on a desktop or in the car.
Price - all of these are under $2000cdn and we can live with that.
I don't want to buy the cheapest system only to have to upgrade in a year or two.
I don't want to end up with a notebook that no-one wants to use as a secondary home machine (to browse internet) because it is too darn slow. At home it will be plugged into the (hi-speed) internet, not wireless.
I went into the store thinking of the M6, and the salesman pointed me at the other two.
I did like the extra speakers on the other two, don't know what the sound is like on the M6.
Other comments?

 

Thank you Justin.
I am looking at the M6bne, good to know it has 3 speakers.
I will take your advice, on my list is 5400 rpm hard drive, 512 ram and then I will look at the cpus.

 

Well, the M6 has 3 speakers... if you were looking at teh M6bne... which is the widescreen.

If you're looking at the M6ne, that is the regular ratio screen and that doesn't have the extra speakers.

My suggestion to you is to do what I tell all of my customers to do... Consider hard drive first, ram second and then after that, just get the best cpu you can afford. That will keep you in budget and yet give you the performance you need now without wasting your money on the top end cpu and cheaping out on a little 4200rpm hard drive that isn't going to do much for you.

J

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

the m6bne has 4 speakers.. not three.... two under the lcd.... and two under the system that bounce the sound off a table and back up at you.

J

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]